Tanzi featured on Nova ScienceNOW segment on Autism

Posted: Jul. 6, 2009

The Nova ScienceNow program on public television stations recently featured a segment on Autism genes and highlighted research done in part by Cure Alzheimer's Fund’s Rudy Tanzi as well as a number of others.

While Alzheimer’s is not specifically mentioned in this program, there is overlap between the two diseases and we are going to increasingly see progress in Alzheimer’s research from related diseases like Autism and others (including Parkinson’s, Diabetes, Huntington’s).

The segment provides an excellent overview of how the Genome Wide Association Screen (GWAS) works. Tanzi used this to identify 70 genes not previously associated with Alzheimer's disease. This innovative technology will help researchers to determine which genes may play a role in multiple, perhaps over-lapping neurological diseases.